October 2008

Transit Pass fans, I apologize for my long absence. The first year of law school got the best of me and distracted me from issues that really matter; i.e. this blog!

There is too much out there to even attempt to cover everything I missed in the absence but to get back on track (pun intended) the NYTimes had a great editorial praising increased funding of Amtrak. It is wonderful to see that Amtrak (or some form of subsidized passenger rail) will be around for years to come. Amtrak needs a lot more money and a lot of direction. There needs to be a real high speed line in the Northeast and potentially California, the infrastructure has to be upgraded, prices must be kept down where rails are actually used frequently, and there must be a goal of expanding the market. Rails should be the most efficient means of transportation between close cities. Buses and planes should be secondary thoughts to travelers between large cities of relatively short distance.

In light of the current economic situation, where even Alan Greenspan is saying there has been too much deregulation, the airline industry deserves to be reexamined in terms of regulation. There are many many issues with the airline industry, ranging from the cost of fuel, to an outdated infrastructure based on ground radar, to the very need and desire of people to fly as frequently as they do. The government has a role here and it is in making for fewer flights on larger more efficient planes while tracking those flights on an updated tracking system. The 90’s are over and not coming back, flight needs to be rethought in this country for both commercial and passenger purposes.

Props to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for writing up an article featuring a traffic engineer. Read on if you want to think about how the signs that are supposed to make us safer on the road actually can put us in danger.